Stealing Rodin
(Robar a Rodin)
Cristóbal Valenzuela Berríos | Documentary
2017 | 80 minutes | Chile, France
Traces the story of Luis Onfray as he explains the personal and artistic reasons for pulling off Chile’s greatest art theft.
Synopsis
In the style of Exit Through the Gift Shop, Stealing Rodin is a critical and humorous statement about Art and the market around it. The documentary traces the story of Luis Onfray’s artistic and criminal act. In 2005, the Palace of Fine Arts in Santiago, Chile, hosted a collection by celebrated French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The morning after the exhibit’s opening, museum guards were dismayed to find that one of the Rodin pieces had gone missing. This shocking discovery sparked a frantic search involving the museum’s staff, and soon the Santiago police. Meanwhile, public curiosity was sparked and the desire to witness the empty pedestal on which the masterpiece should have been made the Rodin collection the most visited exhibition in the history of Chile.
Interviews with famous artists such as Guillermo Frommer and Adrián Valenzuela, lawyers, cops, and theorists help us relive this infamous and daring event, while art student Luis Onfray himself explains the personal and artistic reasons for pulling off Chile’s greatest art theft.
Reviews
"Transgression and art are totally compatible. Stealing Rodin is one of the most complex and narratively rich documentaries of its time." — Q.V. Hough, Vague Visages
"A not-to-be-missed for visual arts." — Arte Limite
"Robar a Rodin can either be a hilarious, off-the-wall tale meant to mercilessly troll its audience, or it can be an important statement on the nature of art and our relationship to it...one of the most ingenious documentaries to come along in a while." — Ernesto Zelaya Miñano, Screenanarchy
"Both lines, the police stuff and the comedy, worked as an interesting way to talk as a background of topics like contemporary art, its function, the definition of art and the artists role in societies." — Cristóbal Valenzuela Berríos, Director
Citation
Main credits
Valenzuela Berríos, Cristóbal (film director)
Valenzuela Berríos, Cristóbal (screenwriter)
Onfray Fabres, Luis Emilio (on-screen participant)
Furché Rossé, María Luisa (screenwriter)
Rioseco, Sebastián (screenwriter)
Paz González, María (film producer)
Other credits
Cinematography, David Bravo; editor, Juan Eduardo Murillo; music, Jorge Cabargas.
Citation
Cataloging
Pragda subjects
Criminal Justice
Culture + Identity
Dance + Performing Arts
Sociology
South America
Visual Arts
Keywords
Clips
Festivals
It’s All True Film Festival - Best Latin American Documentary
Guadalajara International Film Festival - Special Jury FEISAL Award
Viña del Mar International Film Festival - Best Latin American Documentary
Santiago International Film Festival SANFIC - Special Jury Award
Louisiana Film Festival - New Voices New Visions Award
OnArts Film Festival - Special Jury Award
DIRECTOR: Cristóbal Valenzuela Berríos
NATIONALITY: Chile, France
YEAR: 2017
GENRE: Documentary
LANGUAGE: Spanish
COLOR / B&W: Color
GRADE LEVEL: High School, College, Adults
SUBTITLE/CC: AVAILABLE
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: NOT AVAILABLE
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